Transition
by semi-meta-obsessed
Summary: Robin makes a civilian friend. Shes a photographer, she digs superheroes, normal girl. Right? Is anything ever that simple for him and his friends? Batman gives him a mission straight from the justice league, and should he choose to accept- the titans will be forever changed! Odd pairings, and a complete rewrite of a beloved character's history. Pretty ambitious for my first fic!
1. Chapter 1

Welcome to my first Fic! This first chapter has nothing to do with anything really, just me trying to figure out a writing style i'm comfortable with? Please let me know what you think, i'll be posting more- but it may be pretty sporadic... I dont have a home computer. so just enjoy this first attempt at TT fanfic writing!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans, or any of their affiliates.

1: Kitty-kitty

The Titans were patrolling. Each member found a remote corner to survey quietly as the shadows cast by the moon crept across the empty city streets. Robin was as still as the sleeping city, enjoying the peace brought on by night. The cool breeze slipped past him and made him feel at ease. He was thinking of a poem, or was it a line from a song?

Silence,  
And deeper silence-  
When the crickets  
Hesitate.

He couldn't place it. Starfire stepped over the edge of a tall building and floated down along its western wall without any sound, admiring the beauty in the particularly old building's architecture. The delicate care put into the most minute details reminded her of her first home. She ran her fingers over the face of a century old stained glass window, the many colors and strange curving angles fascinated her. She wondered what the building was for. She backed away and made a mental note of the location and general description to ask Robin later.

Cyborg was alone in the tower. The only light in the large and empty space came from the three LCD computer screens in front of him. He sipped on his coffee as he watched the small icons representing his friends lazily drift across the blue and white maps on the display. He checked the time. About ten til midnight. He watched the icon with a purple and black R disappear and reappear several blocks away. He smirked. Its cool how she does that. He was a little jealous of that power.

Beast Boy was looking to waste his last ten minutes in any way that would make it go buy faster. He was just miserable with boredom. He looked over the edge of the old housing development he was perched on. This neighborhood was built back when the city was expanding faster than it could accommodate. Shoddy construction projects sprung up left and right and began falling apart after only a few years use. He spotted a very young tabby cat down below, mewling for its mother. It didn't take long for a stray dog to take notice, and Beast Boy couldn't help himself. He jumped off the ledge and fell a few feet before turning into a bird and swooping down at the dog. It yelped in surprise and retreated to its alley.

Robin opened his communicator and checked the time. Midnight. Time to head home. He hit a button and Starfire came on the screen.

"Greetings Robin! Is our patrol over already?" He smiled at his communicator.

"Yeah Star, will you come get me?"

"I will be there soon." She flashed one last radiant smile and ended the transmission. He was eager to get back. Starfire would have a question about something she'd seen and Cyborg would probably have coffee made. He finally allowed himself to think about his comfy bed.

Raven loomed over the edge of the old courthouse- now a museum- and watched the massive clock hands turn slowly. She listened as the bells tolled midnight. What a nice sound, she thought. She gave the city one last long glance as the bells screamed into the darkness and echoed through every avenue. All at once she arrived back in the ops room.

Cyborg spilled a few splashes of his coffee when Raven appeared in front of him unexpectedly. His initial surprise faded quickly and he welcomed her back with an offer to make tea. "How was patrol? " he asked as he boiled the water.

Raven took a seat at the island. "Not awful. It was quiet at least. How was the tower?"

Cyborg shrugged. "Not awful." He playfully replied as he collected a coffee mug from the dishwasher. "Nobody reported any truly dastardly evil afoot, though BB did contact animal control a few minutes ago." Raven raised an eyebrow and grinned just ever so slightly. "I know!" He said with a chuckle, "it's every night with this kid."

"It's just a matter of time before he starts bringing home-" Raven stopped as Beast Boy entered holding a small tabby kitten. She glanced at Cyborg who was trying not to laugh at her unintentional clairvoyance. She ran her hand over her face with an exasperated sigh.

"Hey guys! What's up?" Beast Boy sauntered in nonchalantly, as though he hadn't even noticed he was holding the kitten.

"Not much BB." Cyborg dead-panned, "whose your friend?" Beast Boy chuckled nervously.

"Oh, heh- who, this?" He said, acknowledging the little kitten at last. "She... doesn't have a name yet." The nameless animal was sleeping and purring contentedly in Beast Boy's arms. He gave his team mates a slightly pleading look as they made their silent judgments regarding the new pet.

Cyborg looked at the cat a little closer. "It's so... ADORABLE!" He said happily. "Can I hold her? Please please?" He held out his robotic hands expectantly.

"Yes! I knew you'd understand Cy!" Beast Boy passed the cat and looked at Raven excitedly. "What about you Rae? Wanna come meet the newest Titan?" She sighed and floated next to Cyborg, who was holding the cat to his cheek and grinning ear-to-ear.

"She's cute Beast Boy," this made him look even more hopeful. Raven frowned. "But I doubt Robin wants any more pets." She gave him an apologetic look and ran her two fore fingers down the kitten's back.

"But she has no home!" He cried defensively, "she was all alone and almost got eaten by a stray dog tonight, I couldn't just leave her there!"

Cyborg handed the kitten over to Raven and looked at Beast Boy sadly. "Well why didn't you just hand her over to animal control? There are plenty of no-kill shelters around here." Beast Boy looked at him with a hurt look.

"I knew you wouldn't understand..." he grumbled. Raven was holding the kitten and cooing 'kitty-kitty' when it looked up at her and mewed. The other two Titans could be heard coming up the hallway.

"It sounds like it was probably a-" The leader of the Titans stopped his explanation and stared at Raven, or rather, the baby kitten she was cuddling. "Uh... a cat?" Starfire exploded in laughter.

"I know what a cat is Robin!" She giggled, "this was a building with colorful glass and- Oh! A cat!" She floated over to Raven's side, completely forgetting the building dilemma. "How wonderfully loveable! Please, may I hold it?" She asked excitedly. Beast Boy's eyes lit up. Robin can say no to him, but Star was another story.

"Of course you can Star!" He said with a little too much enthusiasm, "Just make sure to be really gentle..." he added. Starfire nodded and took the little cat into her arms, petting it lovingly.

"So..." Robin stood next to Starfire, inspecting the animal as it batted at her hair playfully. "Beast Boy, I'm guessing this was your idea?" The authority in his tone, though softened by Starfire's reaction, was still like an unhappy parent. He stared at his teammate with crossed arms waiting for an explanation.

"Well... it wasn't really an idea... I just found her and... she's so cute dude! How could I send her off to the shelter? The other cats are bigger and they'd be mean! There was this big dog and then they came and took it away and I just decided that she needed to come home with me instead and so..." he gave Robin his best puppydog eyes. "So please can we keep her?" He pleaded in a small voice.

All the Titans looked at Robin. A high pitched whistle sounded from the kitchen. Cyborg jumped up. "That's the tea!" He said, happy to leave before Robin crushed Beast Boy's kitten-loving heart.

"How glorious Robin! The cats of your planet are very much similar to the species my people are descended from!" Robin sighed and furrowed his brow in thought.

Starfire was already completely infatuated with her evolutionary ancestor, and nobody seemed too averted to having another pet. He liked cats as well, and considered that fact while lightly scratched behind its fluffy ears. "We'll... does anyone have any cat allergies?"

Beast Boy exploded in excitement. "We can keep her? Yes! I'll take good care of her and get everything she needs tonight! Thanks Robin!" With that he sped off towards the door.

He smiled lightly and looked towards his other teammates. "Anyone have a name for her?"

Raven took a dark coffee cup from Cyborg and sipped on it. "She seems to like kitty-kitty." Robin smiled at her statement.

"All cats are called by kitty-kitty."

"We could call her T'kasi'dovarakisi-Mabiye'skyesn'!" The Titans gave Starfire an odd look. "It is a common name for pets on my planet... But I also like Raven's idea!" She added cheerfully.

"Well alright! Kitty-kitty it is!" Cyborg pointed his fist at the table and held down a button causing a harmless common red laser to appear in front of kitty-kitty. Starfire giggled joyously as kitty-kitty skittered out of her lap and pounced on it.

Robin was re-explaining to Starfire what a church is for when Beast Boy arrived with supplies and they all went to bed.


	2. Chapter 2

2: War on Crime; and Crowbars

Each Titan had three days off every month. They could choose which days they wanted, and coordinate dates and hanging out with each other accordingly. Today was Robin's day off, and he had chosen it because the weather was supposed to be especially nice. He had no special plans but to enjoy a long motorcycle ride along the coast and visit a few local stores that he liked.

He was dressed in civis mostly. He wore a red and yellow striped shirt and a black leather jacket with some tight jeans and converse high-tops. He still wore his mask, covered by a motorcycle helmet, and he couldn't bring himself to go out without a bullet-proof vest. The R-cycle handled nicely, light and precise.

As he was beginning to think about finding some food, he parked the bike in the touristy area of downtown. He was pulling off his black and red motorcycle gloves when a group of teenage boys and one girl ran up him. "Dude! We saw your bike and had to take a picture!"

He smiled beneath the red helmet. Tourists.

"It looks exactly like the R-Cycle, so cool, you must be like- Robin's number one fan right? Have you ever been to Gotham?" His smile widened and he couldn't help but laugh a little as he took off the helmet.

"Of course I've been, I'm Robin." Their collective look of star-struck shock made the superhero business worth every bit of trouble he'd had to face. Superheroes have to put up with a lot, but nobody can claim it's a thankless job. It's really always nice to meet the fans.

The girl seemingly forgot how to breath for a moment. The boys all clamored around and proceeded to tell him that he's the best, and they aspire to be just as awesome as him one day, and can they please take some pictures with him? He obliged and the tourists went their way uploading thirty frames a piece to their social media pages. #Jump city #Teen Titans #Robin #Awesome

That little ego boost made his day.

Little did he know that those camera phones weren't the only things currently aimed at him. He got off his bike and made his way down a couple blocks to a great burger joint. As he was about to enter he noticed someone was following him. He passed the entrance and continued down the block. If someone were going to attack him, better it be done away from the crowded restaurant. He was acutely aware of the young man in dark clothes stalking him through the city.

He walked forward without destination until he got tired of the game and walked down an alley with no outlet. He hugged the wall and waited. He heard the steps speed up and slow until the man stepped around the corner. "Shit..." the young man ran down the alley and looked around for his target. Robin took this opportunity to step out of the shadows and appear behind him, blocking his exit.

"Lost something?" growled Robin. The young man faced him with a look of desperate fear, and within a half a second, he was aiming a gun at the Titan. Robin was fearless, but not stupid. Guns are deadly, and this was not a great situation to be in. "Easy... I don't want to do this the hard way." The kids eyes darted around.

"Your fault, your fault I'm here. This... This is what you deserve. You took my dad in, then my uncle- My family can't take it, you're gonna pay for what you did to us." He lowered the gun and wiped his nose on his sleeve. He returned the gun to position. This was the other side of being a hero. Believe it or not, the guy whose always saving the day makes plenty of enemies.

Robin's eyes went wide as he heard the gun click, accompanied by the 'pop' and felt the bullet bury itself just under his collar bone. He stumbled back- and silently thanked a deity for his bullet-proof vest. In the next ten seconds the gunman was pinned to the ground under Robin, screaming profanities and crying '_my arm!_' In between.

As Robin began to fashion a pair of hand cuffs out of zip-ties he heard a massive yell from behind him. He spun around to see another young man drop a crowbar and fall to the ground. A young woman with a camera hanging loosely around her neck was behind him. "I'm sorry!" She said, "I know I shouldn't have- b-but I didn't think you saw him..." She stopped talking and suddenly raised a camera to her eyes and clicked.

"Whoa-" he trailed off, momentarily blinded by the flash. He scolded himself for allowing anyone to sneak up on him- ears ringing from the gunshot or not; if one more batman affiliate is taken out via crowbar, the dark knight might have to change his crusade. _'The never ending war on crime, and crowbars,'_ he thought. "Uh... thank you... would you mind not taking pictures here? The police haven't even been called yet..." he stopped when the thug she had dropped began to howl in anger.

"You crazy B****! What did you do to me?! I can't feel my arms... o-or my legs! I'm paralyzed!"

The first assailant was yelling too, about his brother being paralyzed, and about his own arm still.

"What _did_ you do?" Robin asked evenly.

"I just... hit some pressure points..." she raised her hand to the side of her mouth and lowered her voice so only Robin could hear. "he should be fine in about half an hour." She smiled at him apologetically. '_Neat trick_' He thought, dialing the JCPD.

"Thank you for the help, but try not to intervene in these situations in the future." He ordered. The young woman looked dejected, but nodded.

"I probably wouldn't have, had I known who you were. I could only see you from the back." He realized that he was dressed like any normal citizen of jump city, and that's exactly whom she thought she was saving. "Why aren't you in uniform today?"

Robin simply stated that he was 'off of work'. She accepted his answer and introduced herself as Olivia Wright. She works with the paper, as what she described as a super-razzi. (Hence the camera clicking.)

"So you just wander about, looking for superheroes fighting crime and take their pictures for money." His tone was flat with disbelief.

"Well, it's a little more complex than that." She said with a glare. "But yes, I basically stalk you and your friends for a living." Robin let out a surprised little laugh. He couldn't help but to see the humor in that. He'd seen their pictures in the tabloids, but never really put much thought into where they came from. "You're just like celebrities to the average person. Celebrities, but better."

"Better?"

"Yeah, well... the celebrities are famous for being beautiful, and rich, being in movies and selling albums. Supers are famous for their selfless acts of bravery- and their profound crusade for protecting all mankind from dangers beyond our comprehension!" She smiled at him, her fist raised in passion. She giggled as he raised an eyebrow. "And then there's all the drama. People like to read about what you do, its noble and exciting." She finished her little monologue matter-of-factly.

Robin chuckled at her explanation. He was slightly worried about talking to a member of the press, but now it was pretty clear that she wasn't looking for an interview. "Well, I guess everyone needs a hobby." He said. The siren caught their attention as a police cruiser entered the alley.

She stayed with him and explained to the police her involvement. The boys were brothers, the half-wit spoiled children of a well known mafia family that plagued the west coast. When all was said and done, one officer offered to drive Olivia home. Robin got to thinking about how she _did_ save his life, or at least saved him from a bad headache, and as a thank you, offered to give her a ride back.

"I have an extra helmet." He said, opening a compartment in his bike and producing a black cycle helmet.

"I... have always wanted to ride a motorcycle... are you sure it's okay?"

"Sure! It's my day off- and it's really the least I can do." He gave her an easy smile and held out the helmet for her to take or leave. Tentatively, she took the helmet and returned a smile.

"Okay, let's go." She was plainly excited as she pulled on the helmet and straddled the Cherry red machine, positioning herself behind Robin. She put her hands on his shoulders only to have him sweep them off and pull them around his waist.

"It's safer." He said as the motorcycle roared to life. She nodded and hugged his back, showing a little fear of being on two wheels. "Put your feet here and here, and be careful not to hit the exhaust because it'll be really hot."

"Exhaust?" She asked.

"This pipe" He replied, kicking it with his converse. "Keep your feet up when we stop and lean with me on the turns, ready?"

"Uhm-" she let out a squeak as the motorcycle pulled away from the curb and flew down the street.


	3. Chapter 3

3: Heroes of Old

The rest of the Titans were at the tower, monitoring the city from afar and going about their daily business. Raven was happily reading on the ops room sofa while Starfire and Beast Boy played with Kitty-kitty. Raven, to be honest, wasn't so much reading as holding an open book in her lap and thinking about whatever her mind was wandering across.

She listened to Beast Boy give Starfire information on the only topic he was vastly knowledgeable on, the Earth's many animals. Starfire was deeply engrossed in the natural history lesson and truly fascinated by the topic of the countless strange creatures inhabiting her new home world. It was something of a bonding experience for the two to watch animal planet, and convenient reference material to be able to transform into any animal she was unfamiliar with, while Beast Boy enjoyed learning about the wildlife of Tamaran as well.

Raven decided, no longer interested in the book, to go see what Cyborg was up to. The book closed and evaporated from her hands with a swirl of black magic. Moments later she stood knocking on Cyborg's door. "Come in!" She heard him yell. She opened a portal and phased through the door.

"Hey Cyborg, what are you up to in here?"

He was sitting at his desk, reading an old looking book. "Raven..." he trailed off, finishing a scan on his arm console. "Just the Titan I was hoping to see..." Raven raised a brow.

"Oh? And why is that?" She asked, walking closer to look at the book over his shoulder.

"I was hoping you might be able to help me with this book- it's in ancient Karqui. I can't get a decent translation, it being a dead language and all." He sighed in frustration and hit a few more buttons on his arm. It suddenly began to translate.

"Keshiam moon Dragon darkest-pink. Looking Baal- north tesjado ejem byzaishnum." It said with it's robotic monotone.

Cyborg sighed, accepting the futility of his efforts, and closed the panel. Raven pulled the book around to face her, scanning the words quietly for a silent moment as Cyborg looked on hopefully. Raven, sensing his anticipation, cleared her throat and began to recite.

"Ehem. Keshiam moon Dragon-pink."

"Raven! This is serious!"

Her eyes flicked up at him playfully, but back down to the book. "It says... loosely something like... 'The epic of the dark leader. The son of the child of Kheahos, Cyros conquered many... something- lands, and brought gray- great prosperity to his people. Under the rule of... Cyros the great, the people of Kadros thrived for a great many... eras.'" She finished the passage and looked up at Cyborg, sensing a sadness emanating from him. "Where did you get this Cyborg?"

"I got it from your favorite book store actually, doing some research on ancient Karaque." He said sadly. Raven tried to cheer him up. She knew what he was really researching.

"I could probably translate this in a few days, it might mention Saracym later on in the story." She said plainly. He looked at her for a moment with an odd expression, and she sensed an internal conflict, but cut off her empathy out of courtesy for his privacy. "It shouldn't be too hard to do, but I doubt it mentions much about her."

As in most ancient cultures, ancient Karaqui history was very male-dominated, and had little concern for the achievements of women at the time. She had found a few references to Saracym for Cyborg in the past, but she was usually portrayed as a male whenever mentioned. He was overjoyed weather falsely gendered or not. In all accounts, Saracym after cyborg's passing married, had children, and continued to lead her tribe, and her life with some normalcy. Raven knew that he cared for her very deeply. Perhaps even loved her, but that was centuries ago and he was having trouble coping with that fact.

"I'd really appreciate that Rae." He said, his mood improving. She gave him a rare and comforting smile and closed the book, clutching the rather large tome to her chest.

"I'll get to work on that then. You're welcome to join me if you like."

"That's okay... I need to uh- get some work done on the car." Raven winced slightly. She didn't need her empathy to know how he was feeling. He never called his baby a car.

"Alright Cy." She said, trying to empathicly ease his pain. She left his room and arrived at her own, digging through her drawer and pulling out some plain white stationary and and Inkwell. She retrieved her quill pen from a shelf and began to translate.

After about an hour, she had gotten through about a quarter of the book. She was out of ink and would have to acquire more before finishing. She re-read a bit of what she had put down and sighed inwardly. She was less than confident in her translation for one reason. The main character in this ancient odyssey was referred to often as the leader of darkness, but the stories were nothing but praise.

Feats of strength, defeating villainous opponents, protecting his people- a stand-up guy any way you looked at it. 'The leader of darkness' is an evil sounding title if she'd ever heard one. Her own father for instance had been given that very title, and many similar titles throughout the ages. So why would the author peg him as evil if he was so great?

She shook her head and decided to go get more ink. She made her way to the ops room and notified the Starfire and Beast Boy that she'd be leaving. She simply opened a portal and appeared on the sidewalk about half a block from a local store that carried the ink of her preference. As she was paying for the ink a red flash of motorcycle caught her eye in the store window. She shook her head at Robin's insistence on speeding.

He never broke the law, he never considered himself _above_ the law, and if he were to be pulled over, she had no doubt he would pay the ticket graciously and vow to never do it again- outside of what his work required. The boy just had a love for his motorcycle, and he _loved_ how fast it was most of all. As she walked down the street she mused that he didn't even mean to speed. He was trained how to drive by the Batman she assumed. She doubted he put much emphasis on obeying all traffic laws when the joker was trying to blow up a dam or something of the sort.

She portaled back to the tower. As she went back to her writing, she again wondered if she'd been translating wrong. She tried a few combinations of the words and decided her wording was close enough.

In the end of the story, Cyros died at the hand of a vicious ruler of a foreign tribe in an act of sacrifice to save his people, and in turn, the daughter of Cyros, Sashan, killed the ruler of the foreign tribe and united their people. She and her husband, a member of the other tribe named Denos, ruled peacefully up until the time the book was written.


	4. Chapter 4

4: The Gallery of the Greats

Robin stopped his motorcycle on the curb of the apartment building that Olivia had directed him to. She was hugging him tightly and shaking a bit. Robin immediately felt bad. She'd never been on a motorcycle before, and he hadn't meant to speed the entire way. The bike was touchy. It only handled properly at the high speeds that it was built to accommodate.

"Are you okay?" He asked in an apologetic tone.

"That was-that was just- SO FUN!" she exclaimed, finally leaning back and taking off the helmet, revealing a sincerely happy smile. "This thing is so fast... gosh, I've been missing out taking the bus." He laughed, returning the helmet to the compartment.

"I'm glad you liked it, I was worried there for a minute." He took off his own helmet and smiled back. They shared an awkward moment of starting before Robin piped up. "Well thanks again Olivia. I better be-"

"Would you like to come inside?" She asked.

He stared blankly for a moment. "Uh.."

"I've got coffee, or tea..."

"Uuum..."

"I'd really like to show you some of my pictures, and it would be nice to hear a heroe's input..."

Robin knew he probably shouldn't, but he was curious about the pictures, and it was his day off. The sun hadn't even gone down yet, so... "Why not. Sure, I'd love to." He said with another smile. He popped up the kickstand and dismounted.

"Great!" She yelled excitedly, leading him up the stairs to the entrance. She pressed her key into the lock of apartment 314 and opened the door. "Welcome Robin, to the stately Wright manner." She said with a hint of sarcasm. Robin looked around.

The apartment was spacious and very minimalisticly furnished. Large windows on the western wall looked out over the city and the setting sun, bathing the apartment in soft golden light. The apartment itself had an older design, 20s or 30s architecture. It was nice, he thought, before realizing that between the circus, the LITERALLY stately Wayne manor, and the Titans tower, he'd never really been in a normal apartment before.

"Did you say coffee or tea?" She yelled from another room.

"I didn't, and coffee." He yelled back, totally engrossed in the pictures hanging on the walls. They were all black and white, simple black frames, and there were six of them in the living room.

One was of Superman, from the looks of it, deep in thought sitting atop the Daily Planet's globe. Another was Wonder Woman lifting a car above her head, hair whipping in the wind. The Flash, the lower half of his body blurred by speed, but his masked face and insignia perfectly in focus. Black Canary, her upper body bathed in some kind of spotlight enhancing her naturally perfect features. Aquaman, dripping wet and carrying a woman out of the ocean as lifeguards ran to help in foreground. And the last one, he loved.

It was him and his mentor, on a rooftop. Bruce looked angry, his mouth frozen in mid-reprimand at the boy, jumping with perfect trapeze-artistry off of a rooftop. Robin, very young in the picture had the biggest smile on his face. He laughed. A deep genuine laugh at how perfectly this perfect stranger had captured the very essence of he and Bruce's early relationship.

Dick pisses him off with his 'I have no rules because I'm ROBIN' mentality, Bruce yells at him because he's 'BATMAN', Dick jumps off a roof top to illustrate his point. Bruce yells at him to drop the trapeze form and do it right. He was in tears at the utter hilarity of the moment when Olivia entered.

"I'm glad you like it." She said with a smile, offering him a cup of coffee.

He took a deep breath and shook his head. "I love it. You even got my good side." She smiled at that.

"This is one of my earliest pictures. I visited Gotham when I was a kid and just happened to be at the right place and time with a camera. It kind of inspired me to follow this line of work."

"They're really amazing, I'm surprised you got a picture of Batman at all." He mused.

"He was pretty distracted." She replied with a coy smile, sending him into another fit of laughter over Bruce's face. "Do you remember what's going on here?"

Robin thought about his answer before saying anything. Always careful not to reveal anything. "Well... from the looks of it, I was getting on his nerves and he was trying to yell at me. My response to that was... jumping off a roof." She tried not to laugh out loud at how dryly he stated it. As if that were a totally average reaction.

"What was Wonder Woman throwing a car at?" he asked.

"I'm not sure exactly. Some kind of... plasma based villan." She took on an absent look as she tried to recall.

"Huh..." He continued to stare at the gallery before him. "Are you from a city with a justice league member or something?"

"No... I'm from Nevada." He looked at her with one eyebrow raised.

"They could probably use one in Reno." He said. She giggled and agreed.

"Aren't you going to take off your gloves?" She asked innocently. He shook his head slowly.

"I can't. Fingerprints." He said almost sadly, but mostly just stating his reasoning.

"Oh! Sorry... I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable..."

"No-it's fine, I have to keep the little things like that guarded for safety."

"But- " she stopped herself short.

"What?"

"It's nothing, really, just... a little hole in that logic."

"Oh, what, DNA on the cup?" She nodded with a smirk. "Well I guess that's why I have a _bendy straw_." He said sillily, producing a bendy straw out of nowhere and plunking it in the cup victoriously.

She cracked up at his little trick. "You're funny, I wasn't expecting that. You always look so serious."

"Well... I was taught by the best." He smiled.

They laughed and talked for a while, she showed him a few albums filled with heroes and titans.. When he finally checked the time it was almost ten thirty. He thanked her and took his leave.

"Will I see you again?" She asked.

"Well... sure, here." He took a pen from his jacket and scribbled down an e-mail on a bit of napkin, careful not to use his normal handwriting. "I don't have a personal cell phone, so if you want to get in contact, e-mail me, I check it every day" He gave her an easy smile and handed her the paper.

"Sounds good. Maybe I can teach you that pressure point trick next time."

"That would be great." They stared for a moment and said their goodbyes.

As Robin mounted his cycle outside, he heard Olivia yell something. He looked up at her door to see her running out with a manila envelope. She gave it to him. "It's a copy of the picture you liked, you and Batman, there's a few more in there too." She explained quickly, smiling faintly.

"Thank you Olivia, he'll love it as much as I do."

"Goodnight Robin." She said softly, returning to the steps.

"Goodnight." With that he tucked the pictures safely away and sped off towards the tower.

Upon his arrival he found the titans had all gone to bed except raven who was in the kitchen. She looked like she was thinking about something very serious while making some tea.

"Hey Raven." He walked over to the fridge and started digging for leftover fettuccine.

"You're in late."

"Yeah, I met this photographer, look in the envelope." He crunched a piece of garlic bread and collected a plate.

"Awe... you're so happy in this one." She pulled the rest out and flipped through them. "This is the best team picture we've ever taken." She remarked.

"And we didn't even know it was picture day." He quipped with a smile.


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, another A/N: If anyone is wondering about that Olivia character, I left out a physical description on purpose. Shes just supposed to be cute. I generally envision her with blond curly hair, maybe just past shoulder length, short and pretty. You can substitute your own ideas, but it wont really matter that much what exactly she looks like... I may update those first chapters later and include something, but for now- just imagine someone nice! There was something else too... Oh! Beast Boy Beastboy beast boy beastboy. Its going to happen, his name is difficult for my phone (the thing im writing on) to process... I tried to clean it up but im sure its still all over the place. I apologize for that. Look! I remembered to put this in bold this time!**

5: Vegan Zorka Marshmallow Mustard Casserole

Meanwhile Starfire and Beast Boy were trying to think of something fun to occupy their time. They settled on swapping vegan recipes. He brought her a plate of tofu to experiment with.

"It's kind of like a base, you add whatever to it to add flavor and texture in place of defenseless animals!" He was overjoyed to have someone on his side. He never knew Starfire was vegan.

"Oh! I could add Zorka berries to make it bitter and salty, or mustard to make it tangy, or perhaps the gravy of a glorvax to make it crunchy!"

"Woah woah woah Star, isn't a glorvax an animal?" He pointed an accusing finger narrowing his eyes at her.

"Yes, it is e-normous!" She said enthusiastically.

"Then you can't eat it!"

"Why can I not?" She looked confused.

"Because VEGANS don't eat defenseless animals!"

"I assure you friend, they are far from defenseless." She said, suddenly becoming gravely serious.

"Okay... but it's still not vegan."

"But Tamaran is part of the Vegan system." They were both confused now.

They decided to just commence with the cooking. Starfire vowed to use no part of any animal from any planet so that her friend could also eat it. They started with dicing the tofu into cubes, adding some earthly vegetation, a little water, some kool-aid (lime) hot peppers, quick oats, Zorka berries, mustard, ice soy cream, coconut, almonds, grapes, pizza sauce, and a bunch of cherry tomatoes, and decided to slow cook it in the oven. After an hour, they took it out and looked upon their unholy creation.

"I don't know Star- this looks kind of dangerous to me." Beast Boy poked the dish with a spatula and sprang away as it recoiled in an unusual way.

"We should try it, so it does not go to waste." She reasoned, looking slightly afraid herself. "I will try if you do." Her voice was low and foreboding.

"Okay, one bite, then you go." They nodded and stuck a fork into the concoction. She pulled a quivering hand to her mouth as he raised the fork high, revealing many layers of good only knows what, and popped it in his mouth.

"It's chewy, and... crunchy... and sweet but spicy-bitter. " he chewed some more considering the new food. "It's actually pretty good..." He ate another bite as Starfire dug for another fork. She took a few bites of her own and concluded that they were excellent cooks. Before long, most of the pan was empty and they began to feel light headed.

"Star... have you ever noticed how kitty-kitty can fly?" Beast Boy slowly scooped up the cat and inspected her closely for wings. "No wait... only you can fly Star." He looked at her with jealousy. "Not fair. I wish that was my power."

"I can fly up up up up up..." her voice flitting higher with her hands as she illustrated her words. She looked at the ceiling with awe until she fell out of her chair. She and Beastboy laughed manicly at her loss of balance.

Starfire remained on the floor, her hands above her grabbing at empty air as she tried to catch the stars in her eyes like lightning bugs, giggling happily. Beastboy stared at the air, wondering what she was seeing. Maybe the food was making her hallucinate. He laughed, because he felt totally normal. He looked out the window at the sunset. It waved at him and gave a thumbs-up. Yep, he was fine. Just then he noticed something terrible.

Beast Boy leapt up suddenly onto his chair. "Starfire! The floor!" He shouted in panic as the floor began to swirl as though covered in snakes.

"Oh!" She exclaimed. She tried to fly away but the floor had her trapped.

"I'll save you Star!" Beast Boy jumped into snake pit and started to swim towards her. The snakes slithered across and over him until he too was trapped. "Kitty-kitty! You're our last hope!"

Kitty-kitty flew to a bar stool and licked her paw, looking down at Beast Boy and Starfire. "You must save yourselves." She said calmly.

"We can not kitty-kitty!" Starfire shrieked as a snake began to coil around her kneck.

Kitty-kitty regarded them each coldly.  
"You are going to die."

They cried out in panic. Beast Boy summoned all of his strength and pulled himself to a bar stool, he took off his shirt and tied a sleeve around the base, holding fast to the other as he reached for Starfire. She grabbed his hand and pulled them both to safety on top of the kitchen island. There they sat, shaking and watching the snakes.

"Oh no oh no... this is the not good... how will we get all of this quicksand out of here!?" Starfire looked at Beastboy, who just looked confused.

"I'd be more worried about the snakes."

"Snakes?"

"We'll figure it out Star, but look outside!" The the now midnight blue sky swirled with clouds and stars was like a painting. The great full moon danced over the ocean, and the water applaued it's beauty with a thousand small flecks of light. The lights of the city curled like smoke around the edges and framed the natural majesty of the scene.

"This planet never ceases to amaze me." She mused.

They watched the scene for a few moments before they were calm enough to formulate a snake/quicksand avoidance plan of true brilliance.

"Star, can you fly us to the couch?" She nodded and took to the air, flying only inches from the high ceilings before dropping them both on the sofa.

"What stall we do now?" She asked.

"Let's watch tv!" He said. They looked up at the tv and saw the most amazing show. It was them, but silly and cartoonish.

'T-E-E-N, T-I-T, A-N-S, TEEN-TI-TANS, LETS GO!' Dudududu-dada-nananana, 'TEEN TITANS GO! teen titans!'

They looked at each other, eyes filed with childlike wonder and watched their show.

A while later Cyborg entered the ops room to see them jumping on the couch in front of a clearly 'off' television.

"What are you guys doing?" He asked flatly.

They turned around and smiled at him. "T-E-E-N. TIT. ANS. TEEN TITANS. LETS GO!" He watched them rock out to their little made up song with a look of pure 'whatthehell' on his face.

"Where's your shirt green man?"

"Oh... I... don't remember..." Beast Boy looked around the ops room, the daze wearing off. "Oh! I took it off because... there was something... on the floor?" He couldn't remember his drug induced logic.

Starfire shrugged at him as he looked to her for answers. "What _are_ we doing?" She asked.

"Are you guys high on something?" Cyborg stared at them as they got off the couch.

"The food!" Said Starfire, suddenly remembering.

"Oh yeah..." Beast Boy collected his shirt and pulled it on. He scraped the food into the trash with disdain. "Let's not do that again." He shook his head to clear the last of the trippy visions and glared at the cat. "Drop the act kitty-kitty, I know you can talk now."

"Kitty-kitty can what now?"

"Talk! Kitty-kitty, why did you not go for help?" Starfire looked the cat in the eyes, hands on her hips, clearly displeased.

Cyborg shook his head. "You two are so weird."

With that he skulked back to his room.

"Ugh, I still feel a little weird actually." Beast Boy clutched his head. "Who knew that you could make acid out of tofu."

Starfire tilted her head, not getting the drug reference. "Perhaps the Zorka berries reacted with the marshmallows, or maybe the soy..."

"At least it wore off though."

"Yeah, I was a little worried about you two." They both looked at kitty-kitty with horrified expressions at her outburst.

"Time for bed!"

"Pleasant snorvlax friend!" They raced to the door.

Raven was just entering the hallway as they zipped past and into their separate quarters. Maybe that bonding wasn't such a great thing after all. They were twice as odd when they were in kahoots.


	6. Chapter 6

6: Checking In

The following morning Robin drank his coffee and read his email. One from the mayor, probably budget related, fan club junk, the United young justice society news letter, one from babs, probably funny cat video related, one from Titans East, probably their annual report, one from Bruce. All it said was 'Call'.

Robin typed for a moment until a screen popped up displaying a bat logo. The screen read 'Calling Cave...' after a few seconds Bruce answered, still in uniform, but missing his cowl. He hadn't slept. "Thank you for calling Dick." He said calmly.

"Of course Bruce. What is it you needed to talk to me about?"

"Well you're not going to be happy about the subject of this little call, I can tell you that right now." He gathered some papers in front of him and began to organize absently.

"Oh?"

"The justice league requested I speak with you." Robin sighed and bowed his head in annoyance. He hated dealing with the justice league almost as much as his mentor did.

"Get on with it."

"You recently made contact with a girl named Olivia?"

"Yes. A local photographer." He sipped his coffee, wondering if she was some kind of criminal mastermind. "What about it?"

"She's on a watch list that the league set up to keep an eye on potential threats." This disturbed Robin. What exactly made someone a potential threat? "What can you tell me about her?"

"She seemed like an ordinary person to me. She photographs heroes in the line of duty for tabloids. She lives here in the city and she said she was from Nevada. She used some kind of pressure point trick on a criminal when we met, temporary paralysis type move."

"Hm." Bruce wrote something down on a pad in front of him. "Anything else?"

"Nothing comes to mind."

"Does she live with anyone?"

"She appeared to live alone."

"Well." He drummed his fingers. "The league requested I withhold why she's on the list, but I'm going to tell you anyway. She's highly trained in some of the more deadly branches of martial arts, which is where she's getting these pressure point tricks. Her mother is some sort of high security clearing Checkmate agent that infiltrated our ranks in her late teens under the name of 'Distress'. She only stuck with the hero ruse long enough to gather some info on higher ranking league affiliates and dropped off the map in '91. Did Olivia happen to mention where in Nevada?" Robin shook his head. Bruce wrote another note. "Well. The league is requesting you keep an eye on her movements and do some reconnaissance of your own. They suggested she may make a good addition to the titans if you believe she could be trusted. As far as they know she has no affiliations with any intelligence agencies, but I'd like you to confirm that."

Robin considered the mission carefully, absorbing the information Bruce was giving him.

Robin nodded. "Alright, I'll do what I can to get her on the team."

"Good. Remember what I told you. She's more dangerous than she looks. This information may be your strongest weapon in case of an emergency situation."

"Gosh. Right again Batman." He said with sarcasm.

"Take this seriously boy wonder."

"Anything else?"

"That will be all." -End Transmission-

Robin continued to go through his inbox until he found one from livi_wright and read through the email. It stated that she could probably kick his butt, which he was now mildly worried about, and that he really should come by to learn the pressure point trick she'd used. He opened the IM and replied something like 'I'm tougher than I look you know.'

'Robin! I'm glad to hear back. I got that photo developed.'

'Oh great. That's not fair, you caught me off guard.'

'It's actually pretty flattering, anyway you shouldn't have been off guard!'

'Valid point. So when are you going to teach me that temporary vegetable move?'

'That all depends, you think jump city will be safe without you tonight?'

'I think my team should manage fine if I slip away for a while.'

'I'm free at 7, how's that?'

'That's good for me, I'll come by around 7:30.'

'Sounds good. I gotta run if I want to meat my deadline on the villains month story. See you soon.'

-livi_wright is offline-

Robin went down to the gym to begin his morning warm-up.

Meanwhile, Raven was carrying a stack of papers to Cyborg's room, hoping that their meeting would go well. She stood outside his door and shifted the paper to one hand to knock. The door slid open and Cyborg greeted her with a smile. "Done already? That was fast."

"It's hard to put down a good story." Cyborg smiled at Raven and recieved the storie's translation.

"Thank you again Rae, this really means a lot."

"I'm happy to help, but you should know that Saracym isn't mentioned anywhere." He shook his head sadly.

"Rae..." He stopped, and that internal conflict returned.

"What is it Cyborg?" She was a little worried about her friend. He was obviously working through something very difficult for him, and she wanted him to open up about it without her having to pry. She was hurt in a way that he would keep something like that from her, but also knew he probably had his reasons.

"I don't know how to say this, but yeah, she is." She scanned her memory for that name anywhere in the pages and came up empty.

"I don't-" She was cut off when Cyborg pulled her into his room suddenly and closed the door. "I would have just walked, thank you." She said with a little annoyance.

"Rae, I really need to tell you something, because I'm going crazy trying to keep it to myself... but nobody can know. Nobody, understand? If any of the other titans found out, I don't know what they'd think of me..." He took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "I know what I think of myself... I trust you, but you have to swear. Just me and you. Nobody else ever knows." She was starting at him with slightly frightened eyes. What could he have done to warrant this amount of emotional turmoil?

She found her voice after a hesitant moment, looking into his eyes for answers. "What is it Cyborg?"

"Saracym is in here, but they don't mention her name... only her title..." his voice shook slightly, and he was having trouble maintaining eye contact. "Her title as the daughter of the tribe's old leader, Khahos..." He placed the stacks on a desk and ran his hand over the paper. "This story... this leader... this hero... he's..." He tried to calm himself, but his metallic hands shook. "He's my son."

Starfire always joined Robin for his morning workout. She'd been learning hand to hand combat under his mentorship and was a quite formidable challenge to him at this point. They were happily sparing while Starfire told him about her hallucinogenic food creation.

"Maybe it was the Zorka berries with marshmallows?"

"That is what I thought! A most strange reaction indeed." She went for a jumping kick but Robin blocked before it landed.

He chuckled and stopped their spar. "Try not to leave your center open." She looked confused. "Here." He opened a drawer and retrieved a sheet of red dot stickers, peeling one away. "Do it again." She nodded with determination and repeated her action. Robin dodged the attack easily. "See?" She looked down to see a red dot on her abdomen. "If that had been a fist it could have caught you completely off balance."

"I understand, I will be more cautious. Allow me to try again." She attacked him once more, and he blocked again but commended her for the improved form.

"Perfect. Keep up the good work Star. I think you're good enough to take me down if you really wanted to." She beamed at his compliment.

"It is due to a wonderful mentor, though I could never bring myself to damage my friends."

He smiled and collected a towel to run through his hair. It was down today, as it was most mornings. He pulled the towel around his kneck. "What?" He asked when he caught Starfire staring.

"I find your hair being unspiked is most flattering."

"You think I should just leave it today?" He asked honestly. He valued very few opinions on himself, but Starfire was one person that made him strangely self conscious. She nodded sweetly after a moment of consideration. "Then it's settled, no more spiky hair." He said. "Want to get breakfast?"

"Oh yes, I'm feeling most famished after our workout."

"I think I should cook." He teased as they went to the kitchen.


	7. Chapter 7

7: Forgiveness

Raven felt numb. She was remembering the panic he was in when they pulled him through the portal. He screamed her name, that they had to send him back, that she needed him. He begged them. He didn't speak to anyone for days, but there was nothing they could do.

"I thought I would die there. I knew that I could keep myself going for a few more years once we got the hydro generator going, but I never expected to be found, and I was okay with that." She was searching for comforting words, something, anything that could help him begin to heal, but there was nothing. "I know on this side it was only a couple days, but there it was somewhere closer to half a year."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I'm telling you now."

"Cyborg- I don't know what to say..." He began to explain himself further, justifying something so ireprehensible as falling in love under a certain death sentence. It made her feel like the walls were closing in slowly. Justification she didn't need. She was a romantic at heart, believing fervently in silly ideas like freedom beauty truth and love, even though she couldn't freely express it. She was cursing they fact now more than ever, because if this was that kind of story, she had been an albeit good intentioned but nonetheless cruel antagonist, and she had taken him away from his happiness. She felt heated guilty tears on her face. She felt the glass hit her when she blew out a computer monitor. She felt sick with herself. She felt like a demon.

As Cyborg started to smell the electricity in the air he knew what was coming, and his monitor cracking and firing glass into the air only confirmed it. He moved to Raven instinctively to protect her from the onslaught of emotional chaos. He wiped a tear from her cheek and pulled her close, wrapping his heavy arms around her to shield her from any debris as glass and metal swirled around them like a dark storm. "I'm sorry Raven." He said.

She felt his cold metal hand on her cheek. He was apologizing to her. For making her cry? No, She thought. He knows why I try. He knows why I can't bear him leaving. He knows that I love him. He's apologizing for reminding me that I'll never be her. This is where I belong, in his arms, but my powers are lashing out. I have to concentrate. Stop feeling angry. Stop feeling sorrow. Stop feeling love. Stop feeling guilt.

He let her cry. He shouldn't have told her, knowing how strongly she might react, but as much as he hated seeing her like this, he was glad he did. He hated keeping something like this from her and she deserved to know. He loved her. He loved Seracym, but it was time to let her go. With this book, his searching was over. His future lay only ahead, with Raven.

The room was now a cacophony of dark spiraling magic and miscellaneous glass and machinery. He held tight as he felt the particles scratch and cut his human flesh and bounce off the rest of him with sharp 'tinks'. He'd been through this before

The storm began to die down. When the debris ceased swirling Cyborg released his hold on Raven and looked down into her beautiful amethyst eyes. She was a mess, but Cyborg doubted he'd ever seen someone look so beautiful while crying.

"I'm sorry cyborg-I didn't know."

He gently pulled her chin up with two fingers and kissed her softly, pulling her body closer at her waist. They parted only inches before she laced her arms behind his neck and pulled him into another passionate kiss.

Meanwhile Robin was preparing to go on a completely work related mission, that the justice league itself had assigned him, while Starfire moped nearby. She asked questions solemnly, in a tone that nearly broke his heart.

"Why can I not go in your stead?"

"It's an undercover mission. We don't want her to know that we're collecting Intel. She already knows me and I have an excuse to visit, so it won't seem suspicious." His perfectly good answer was evidently not good enough, as she still looked hurt beyond all reason.

"What does this girl look like?" Her inflection on the word 'girl' was similar to 'clorbag' and made Robin smile.

"It doesn't matter Starfire. She's a potential colleague, and that's all. You two would probably get along!"

"Perhaps." She remarked with disdain. "All the more reason for me to go with you."

"I'm sorry star, not this time." He felt truly awful for pulling out of the garage and leaving the tower, but he needed to find out more about Olivia and weather or not she was a potential team mate.

He couldn't concentrate fully on the task at hand until he pulled up to the old apartment building. A window swang open overhead and the petite girl leaned precariously over the sill.

"I'll Buzz you in!" Robin smiled and nodded as he jogged up the steps and up to the top floor apartment. Olivia met him in the doorway.

"Nice uniform." She said with a raised brow.

"I'm on call today, hope that's alright."

"Of course, come in."

He entered the spacious apartment and was met with a whole new collection of pictures sitting neatly filed on a coffee table.

"I like your hair like that!" She commented.

"Oh, thanks! Starfire convinced me to leave it down."

"Awe..." she looked at him with a funny little half smile.

"What?"

"That's cute is all..."

Robin sighed in annoyance. "Were not a couple if that's where you're going with this."

"Oh! Sorry, I just figured, you seem like an inevitable couple."

"It's okay. A lot of people assume that were dating, and she's an incredible person, but..."

"Not your type?"

"That's not it, she's a teammate. I'm the leader. There's a certain amount of professionalism expected from me, and I'm happy to maintain that."

"So- Are you gay?"

"NO! Wow, no. Girls are just really complicated. Being a hero is stressful enough without all the relationship stuff, and I'm not above blaming my position as team leader to avoid having to deal with that."

She laughed. "That's understandable. What's she like?" She seemed really interested.

"You two would probably get along. I was just telling her that today actually."

"That would be so cool, she's like female superman!" He laughed and agreed.

"Are these the villains month pictures?" He motioned to the files on the coffee table.

"Yeah. Feel free to go through them, some turned out pretty good."

He was very intrigued, and started filing through carefully. He was hoping that she'd have one of his nemesis, though he doubted it. She had managed to snap one of batman, so who knows. He perused the collection of evil doers and realized that they were world wide.

"How did you manage to find Cheshire?" He asked incredulously.

"I went to Hong Kong a few months back."

"You never cease to impress me with your dedication to stalking." She laughed and pulled the Cheshire shot aside.

"I track the movements for months before I go, all for one picture." She considered the frame for a moment. "Do you want to see?"

"See what?"

"My office! Come on." She pulled him by his hand down a hallway and into a dark room. She flipped a switch and the room was bathed in light revealing miles of craft floss pinned in lines across maps of various places. Pictures of villains were pinned here and there and sticky notes were thrown into the jumbled mess as well. To any normal person, Olivia's office was a discordant mass of cryptic nonsense, but Robin thought it was brilliant.

"My god. You're almost as neurotic as I am." He mumbled.

"You flatter me Robin." She smiled at the walls triumphantly. "Here's where I finally pinned down Cheshire, oh and here's the brother blood line in yellow- haven't gotten him on film yet, but I think he's in a town called Blüdhaven, near the great lakes. There've been some reports-"

"What about Slade?"

"Slade?" She asked, looking confused.

"Where's his line?" He was looking over the boards as if he'd just missed it.

"He doesn't have a line. I decided if I'm going to live in jump, I'm going to stay off his radar." She looked at the papers splayed across her desk solemnly.

"You're afraid?" Their eyes met, and the silence that filled the room made the question seem rhetorical. She sighed and busied herself by organising the desktop.

"I'm just a photographer. I'll expose as much as I can, but not everyone wants to play the big hero."

Just as Robin was about to respond, a blast from the other room made the building lerch suddenly, knocking them both to the ground.

"What-" Olivia was drowned out by another blast, this one sounded closer. The building shook again, and Robin crawled closer to Olivia, pulling her under the desk and opened his communicator.

"Cyborg! Report!"

"Robin! We've got reports of explosions along 45th street, looks like Kitten!"

"Kitten?! Oh you've got to be kidding me. Okay, I'm on sight, dispatch immediately, over and out." Robin growled and rolled from under the desk, ready for action.

"Wait!" Olivia shrieked. "What's going on?"

"It's an old villain, the blond girl with the moths." She rolled from under the desk as well, full attention on his explanation. "Sorry Olivia, I've got to go take-" a third explosion rocked the building. "I've got to go!" With that he sped off to fight. Olivia stood in her office in shock. Moths? She knew the killer moth girl is nuts for robin, that they'd been spotted going to prom together, and nothing sells papers like a pretty girl wreaking havoc on the city.

"This should be good." She reasoned, grabbing her camera and running towards the action.


	8. Chapter 8

8: Under Cement and Dust

Olivia raced after Robin down the hall just in time to see him head for the roof via window fire escape. She didn't allow even a second of hesitation before following him. Armed with only her camera and a determination to make the front page, she leveled herself and snapped a frame before making her way to the roof. Once there She was met with a low hum that sounded like a helicopter and watched the blond psycho ascend over the rooftop atop a killer moth.

She captured another frame, the girls face was stoic, watching a building crumble. She didn't seem angry, or upset, just going about her destruction with an eerie calm. She turned suddenly at the utterance of her name.

"Kitten!" He yelled.

She looked down on him. "Hello Robin. I suppose you're going to try and stop me now."

"I doubt I'll have to try very hard."

"HA! Now that's where you're wrong my dear. I've made some improvements to my father's design and I'm just thrilled you're here for my little reintroduction as jump city's princess of crime."

"I'm flattered, but you'll have to deal with more than just me." With that, a barrage of green starbolts lit up the the great humming beast's left flank. It screeched roared, turning to face the threat. Kitten growled and yelled a command, causing the moth to open it's mouth and charge some kind of blast, destroying the upper floor of a building while Starfire dodged the attack. Kitten laughed maniacally and yelled the commands repetitively, causing buildings all around her to catch fire and rain debris down onto streets. Olivia paused and watched the devastation, hurling her camera to the ground and sprinting back to her apartment- deciding at once what to do.

The Titans charged the moth, beast boy was attacking in the form of a pterodactyl when kitten yelled the command again. Beastboy thought fast, coiling around the monster's mouth as python halting the attack. Starfire took the shot, and flew into kitten, wrenching her from the moths back.

The moth flew into a rage, charging after Starfire. Beast Boy lost his grip and spiraled to the ground. The moth didn't fire at Starfire, but kept pace with the alien, roaring furiously.

"Let me go you dumb bimbo!" She raged, trying to free herself.

"You are vulgar and rood!" She flew higher, trying to lose it, to no avail. She decided the moths delicate wings could probably be destroyed by buildings, so she flew lower, into the city. Robin stood on the roof giving commands through an ear piece.

"Cyborg, Raven- Evacuate the damaged buildings! Beast Boy- give Starfire an assist."

Olivia was madly rummaging through her drawers in search of a little black box. She pulled a sweater away from a drawer revealing the box in question and ran to the rooftop. She was met with a scene unfolding in front of her that took a moment to process. Robin was firing his grappling gun to escape the impact of the giant moth. Beast Boy had hit one of the wings and sent it off course, straight towards Olivia.

The moth barreled through the building and kept going. As the roof crumbled down, she took a deep breath, aimed, and jumped, landing at the last second on the moths back. She hung on for dear life as the moth took up persuit of Starfire and kitten once again.

Robin watched from a rooftop with horror as he spotted Olivia on the creature's back.

"Starfire! Get lower! A civilian is on the moth!" He yelled frantically into the earpiece. He watched her process the information and make a dive for an empty city street. As the moth grazed the ground at dangerous speeds, it suddenly disappeared, a lava taking its place, and throwing Olivia to the ground.

Robin cursed and grappled a building in the general direction.

He was the first on scene. He sprinted to his friend lying on the cold cement. She was out, laying in the fetal position clutching a slimy larvae to her chest with one hand and a little black box with the other.

He checked her pulse and yelled her name. He shook her arm as the others arrived, looking on solemnly.

"Olivia-wake up. Olivia! Can you hear me? OLIVI-" Olivia suddenly opened her eyes and rolled onto her back, coughing. She lifted the sluggish bug off her chest into the air.

"Somebody take this thing." She said through gritted teeth.

"Ohthankgod." Robin sighed, taking the bug. "What the hell were you doing?!" He yelled.

Olivia sat up carefully, checking herself for injury. "I was just- saving the day." She gave him a weak smile, holding up the black box.

"A cellphone jammer?" Asked cyborg, taking the box and helping her up.

"Right, I figured... you know, what's a teenage girl going to use if she needs to send a signal to the moth?" Starfire rifled through kittens pockets, producing a pink flip phone with a little butterfly dangle.

"This is the cell-phone?" She asked. Cyborg nodded. Starfire gave kitten a cold glare and crushed the phone in her fist.

"YOU BITCH!" She screamed. Starfire looked extremely satisfied with herself. The trail of profanities didn't end until the cops drug her into the back of the cruiser and left.

Olivia looked on sadly as the JCFD tried to extinguish the inferno that was once her apartment.

"What are you going to do now?" Inquired Starfire, with genuine remorse in her voice.

She considered her words for a moment. "I'll have to start all over." She sighed.

"Not completely." Robin said, brushing the dust off a plain blue folder. He gave her the file. Olivia opened it and smiled as tears made clean trails down her cheeks through the layer of dust.

"Good. I still have a job at least."

"You should stay with us!" Everyone looked at Starfire. Robin was surprised, considering how she protested Olivia earlier.

"Yeah! It's the least we can do!" Agreed cyborg.

"Seeing as how we destroyed your apartment." Said Raven. Beast Boy remained silent, crossing his arms and glaring at the ground.

He was outvoted, and made it clear he was displeased. "I'll meet you back at the tower." He said, making brief eye contact with each of them. "It was nice to meet you Olivia." His words were polite, but his tone was low, almost aggressive. He became a bird and flew off.

Robin looked at Olivia, who had a look of shock on her face. "Well? What do you say?" She considered for a moment before nodding.

"Okay... just until I find a new place." She smiled at the team warmly.

Starfire exploded. "Wonderful! We can become best friends!" She hugged Olivia tightly, causing her to gasp for air.

"She can come with me" offered Raven kindly.

They all set out at once, leaving raven and Olivia alone. "Let's go find some clothes." With that raven formed a dark bubble around the pair and levitated to the level of the apartment. They salvaged a few articles of clothing and a suitcase, and phased back to the tower.

A warm welcome awaited, accompanied by a tour of the tower, (limited to the communal living spaces for security) and the code for the guest room.

After a shower and dinner, only Robin and Olivia were left in the ops room. He flipped on the tv hoping to catch his favorite show, but it had ended, so he settled for channel flipping. "That was some move you pulled today." He said. Olivia was on the other end of the couch, writing notes to go with the villains month pictures. She smirked at him and continued writing.

"I don't know what I was thinking. I just reacted." Robin nodded and continued channel flipping.

"That's how we do it." He stated matter of factly. She looked at him with some confusion. "Heroes. You know. We're all a little crazy. If we ever stopped to think about how dangerous a situation is, we probably wouldn't do it."

"Than you've got a real problem with impulse control my friend."

He laughed and stopped on an old sitcom for almost five seconds before flipping some more."Would you like to join us for training tomorrow?" Olivia looked up, hardly hiding her surprise.

"You wouldn't mind me taking pictures?"

"Oh, well actually I was asking if you'd want to train with us." She looked skeptical, so Robin pushed on. "I'm guessing you've had some pretty extensive training. I'll admit I was pretty impressed by what you did today, and the pressure point thing you used leads me to believe fighting is more than just a hobby for you."

She didn't respond right away, but simply nodded. "That's true. I've been trained since childhood. How very perceptive of you."

"You don't like fighting?"

"It's not that, it's just... it's not something I like to broadcast."

"You don't have to go, I just thought I'd-"

"I'll go." Robin looked at her with a calming warmth. He was genuinely glad she would be joining them for training. It meant he had coaxed her one step closer to joining the team.

That night after everyone else had gone to bed, robin sat awake at his computer.

Somewhere, deep in the cavernous depths lurking deep below the bedlam of Gotham city, Bruce Wayne opened an email.

He carefully scanned the attachment that his protege had sent him. An ominous thundering laughter flooded the cave, bringing to life the nocturnal screeching lifeforms dwelling forever in the darkness. Bruce laughed. This picture captured them so well.


End file.
